A Walk in September Sunshine

The Lock Stop cabin is a good spot for refreshments at the beginning and end of a walk.

Beyond the locks, quiet countryside takes control of the towpath.

Dairy cows, sheep and horses graze and birds skim the water taking their fill of insects.

A good circuit takes you northwards along the towpath. Past bridge 158 and round the bend, a style on your right skirts you around the Rolls-Royce Ghyll Brow plant over the fields. (This can be a muddy trod especially at the gate holes.more..).

You can complete a short circuit by turning right when you reach the road or add some length to the route by going left down the hill (Ghyll Brow) and crossing the road to find the gate taking you on the path past Ghyll Hall Farm to Ghyll Church. Ghyll Lane leads you back towards town.

Crossing Skipton Road and bearing right brings you back towards the canal and locks.

Drumlins

The north of Barnoldswick is dominated by an extensive drumlin field which extends to Gargrave.

Drumlins are small hills which formed beneath the ice sheet which covered the area during the last ice age.

These hills are made from boulder clay dumped by the ice sheet as it moved over the land. The movement of the ice shaped the mounds into gently rounded, slightly egg shaped hills. The tapering of the drumlins indicates the direction the ice sheet was following.

Barnoldswick's drumlin field is a text book example of the phenomena and is visited by students of geology during field trips.more

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal winds its way around the drumlins as it descends from Barnoldswick's summit stretch towards Skipton.

You can see the vast expanse of the drumlin field from the moors above Elslack.

It's perhaps best explored by following the canal towpath as it meanders around the hills.

The Pennine Way passes through the drumlins, sharing the canal tow path for a stretch.

Between Gisburn and Skipton, the A59 finds a route alongside, and sometimes over the drumlins.